third sermon, has defined justification, in accordance with the uniform sense of Scripture, to be a judicial declaration of the innocence of the person justified.' I have but one observation to add under this head, and that shall be in the words of the author just mentioned, but with a meaning very different indeed. That any doubt should be made of the general principle, that the imputation of righteousness to the sinners whom God justifies, is as much a part of their justification as the remission of sins, has always appeared to me truly amazing.'

SECOND PROPOSITION.-Remission of sins is uniformly ascribed, in the word of God, to the work of Christ upon the cross.

A twofold effect is attributed to the sacrifice of Christ, both of which were, with singular distinctness, prefigured in the two goats on the great day of atonement. That on which the high priest laid the iniquities of the people, and which was sent away into the wilderness, whilst it was intended to assure the people that their guilt was removed, did, in a beautiful manner, foreshow that Christ was to bear the iniquities of his people, to take away the sin of the world. The other goat typified Christ suffering the penalty of the broken law. I have heard it denied that it was part of Christ's work to hear the sins of his people, and that by at least one of evangelical views and character, under the notion, I suppose, that the believer's sins are to be covered by the robe of Christ's righteousness, and not to be taken away; a blessed privilege would thus be lost; the knowledge of our sin and all its guilt being altogether removed from us. But blessed be God for his mercy, and the revelation of it, by which we obtain, in the language of Dr. O'Brien, the entire recovery of the quiet confidence and inward peace of innocence. The justified believer is not forgiven only, not merely a pardoned criminal, but is redeemed from all iniquity by that blood which cleanseth from all sin. Such is the doctrine of the following

Archbishop Whately, in his Essay on Imputed Righteousness, already referred to, has, page 209, censured the practice of commentators in first affixing a strict technical sense to each of the principal words employed in Scripture, and then interpreting the word, whenever it is found in the sacred writers, according to such precise definition. The archbishop has, I think, run into the other extreme in page 207 and elsewhere. In that page we find two texts of Scripture invested with a new meaning; Romans iv. 25, " Who was delivered for our offences and raised again for our justification." The view of the Priesthood of Christ, offered by R. D. in the CHRISTIAN EXAMINER, last year, affords an easy elucidation of this verse, without resorting to any unusual interpretation of terms. According to that well-supported view our justification was only effected when Christ having risen, ascended into heaven, and presented his blood on our behalf, as the high priest, under the Mosaic dispensation, went within the vail with blood.

In his grace's interpretation of 1 Cor. i. 30, he has assigned to one word a meaning plainly belonging to another word of the same text.

scriptures, "The Lord hath laid on him, or made to meet on him, the iniquities of us all." As if the prophet were describing the scape-goat, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away

the sin of the world." "Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many," &c. "Of his own self he bare our sins in his own on (ET) the tree;" "For we know he was manifested to take away our sins."

The second result of Christ's death, deliverance from the penalty of sin, need not be proved here.

But that this twofold effect emanates from the Redeemer's cross and passion alone, take the following places in proof. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes are we healed." "This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins," &c. "For this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." "Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." There are some who, while they admit that remission of sin is tantamount to imputation of righteousness, maintain that the blood of Christ, and such like expressions of Scripture include all his performances and obedience in life and death. But can there be a grosser instance than this of petitio principii? Is it not an assertion contradictory in terms, that Christ's death comprehends the works of his life? In the two last citations from Hebrews that apostle has, by contrasting the effects of his death, blood, &c. with those ascribed to the sacrifices and purifications of the Mosaic law, limited the whole work of redemption to the atonement of Christ upon the cross as the meritorious cause, with as much distinctness as if his object had been to exclude all his other works from any participation in effecting it. With St. John, then, I conclude, that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." "Unto him, therefore, that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever. Amen."

THIRD PROPOSITION.-That righteousness and justification are expressly declared in Holy Writ to come to the believer through Christ's work upon the cross alone.

The following passages are examples. Isaiah, liii. 11, “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities." Here justification is ascribed beforehand to the work of Christ in bearing the iniquities of the

many.

Similar to this, and to the same purpose is the declaration of the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin; that we might be made the righte ousness of God in him." This asserts that the end and effect of making Christ become sin for us, was that we might become the righteousness of God in him.* The doctrine here contended for may further be inferred from two passages of Revelations taken in conjunction; viz. vii. 13, 14, compared with xix. 8, "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." "And to her (the Lamb's wife) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints,” τα δικαιώματα των αγίων. Το these may be added, Rom. iii. 24, 25, "Being justified freely through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past;" and v. 9, of the same epistle, "Being now justified by his blood." Hence it is that it is said, "in the Lord have I righteousness," that Christ is called "the Lord our righteousness;" and that he is said to be "made unto us righteousness;" because by his death we obtain justification. He is the meritorious source, through faith in his blood, of our righteousness. There is one other passage which demands particular consideration here. It is that contained in Romans, v. 18, 19, "Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." The translation in the margin of verse 18 is to be preferred to that in the text, for these reasons: it is the natural one, according to the order of the words in the original; and it relieves the apostle from the charge of tautology, inasmuch as it represents the subjects of his comparison in this verse to be distinct from those in the following. But to make the

In him.' This phrase is employed in the word of God to convey two distinct figures. By one believers are viewed in Christ as their representative, and are considered to have died in him, are made righteous.-The second use of this phrase makes Christ the head, and believers the members of his body, the church. As the head guides, moves, and governs the members of the natural body, so does Christ, by his grace, work in his members both to will and to do. He does for them what they never were required to do, fits them for working, but does nothing, in their stead, which they were intended for, and expected to do, as the head performs not the office of the hands or the feet.

contrast in the 18th verse more complete, if for "the offence of one," in the first member, we substitute "one offence," the construction substituted for "the righteousness of one," in the latter clause of the verse should be, not "one righteousness," as in the margin, but one righteous act, evoo dikawμaToo.* This construction affects the interpretation of the next verse, which will appear thus, "For as by one man's disobedience (instanced in the one offence in verse 18) many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one (exhibited in the one act of righteousness) shall many be made righteous." This view is confirmed by the circumstance of an adjective corresponding to the word here translated "obedience," occurring in Phil. ii. 8, where the apostle speaks of Christ's voluntary death as the great instance of his obedience. I beg here to refer to Whately's Essay on the Difficulties in the Writings of St. Paul, 2d edition, pp. 200-5.

I am satisfied that all those passages of Scripture which we have considered under this head agree in one assertion, viz. that the justification of believers, and the righteousness imputed to them flow from the atonement made by Christ on the cross as the meritorious source, and from it alone.

FOURTH PROPOSITION.-The death of Christ has satisfied the law. We have seen, if the foregoing reasoning be well-founded, that the death of Christ sufficed for the attainment of one leading purpose in the divine counsels, that of removing the believer's guilt, and procuring for him a title, through faith, to eternal life. There was, however, another important object to be effected, viz. the satisfaction of the law. This too, should have been secured before the believer's acceptance could be accomplished. Has this been done? I think it has. I admit God's law required fulfilment. But it did not leave itself without the means of redress in case it should be violated. Therefore, like other codes, it provided an alternative. Its language is, do or die. To Adam God said, "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Ever since his language is, "Do this and live." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Unhappily "all have sinned." "There is none that doeth good." But all have died in Christ: "for we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead,” or did all die, añ¤¤avov. Not only has the guilt of commission, but that of omission been atoned for, as we are expressly told in Gal. iii. 10, and following verses, "It is written cursed is every one that continueth not in all things

*dixaiwμatoo. This word has two meanings at least, and it occurs in both in the 5th chap. of Romans. Its first meaning is, I believe, a just act; juste factum. The other is properly given to it in verse 16, where it is opposed to "condemnation;" viz. justification or acquittal. To express a course of righteousness imputed, this word is employed in the plural,

Rev. xix. 8.

which are written in the book of the law to do them.-Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." When we speak of the demands of the law, we represent the matter in the light of a debt; a debt due of all men to their Creator; a debt incurred when we came from his hands endued with life and reason, and left unpaid through inability or dishonest reluctance. The penalty is exacted in consequence: and it is plain that, had the debt been paid by us, or for us, no penalty could have been justly inflicted-no atonement could have been demanded. The truth of this position can only be denied, I think, where it is forgotten that Christ and his people are one; or where it fails to be perceived that every law offers an alternative, viz. to obey or bear the sin.

Other topics connected with this important question occur, but I hasten to conclude, and remain

Your constant reader,

E. F. G.

P. S.-I may, perhaps, in a future letter, consider objections to the view here offered.